Former USD standout Leighton O'Brien had a reunion of sorts in Dallas last year, when he encountered one of his father's teammates on the original Sidekicks indoor team in 1984-85.

O'Brien again met Tatu, who not only used to car pool with his father, Fran, but who is still active with the Sidekicks as their player/coach. On this day, Tatu shared a laugh with the younger O'Brien before playing against him.

"I remember when you were (only) that big," said Tatu, thinking back to when O'Brien was 8 years old.

If ever a player grew up traveling around pro soccer, it's O'Brien. Born in Dublin, he lived in his native Ireland two years before his family moved in step with his father's career stops in Philadelphia, Montreal and Vancouver in the North America Soccer League and Dallas and Tacoma in the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Sidelines

Trophies

Jose Saturnino Cardozo: Toluca's Paraguayan striker wins the prestigious King of the Americas for the hemisphere's top player in 2002 (Landon Donovan was 29th).

Villeurbanne AS Algerienne: Amateur side of Algerian immigrants from a Lyon suburb becomes the lowest-level team (ninth division) ever to play in the annual French Cup.

Red cards

Dallas Burn: MLS club reportedly is leaving the Cotton Bowl and will play this year at a 7,500-seat high school stadium with artificial turf while searching for a permanent home.

Milwaukee Rampage: Just months after winning the A-League title, the club is facing major financial "issues" and a league official admits "our goal is to save the franchise."

USA vs. Japan

The U.S. women's national team begins training tomorrow for its first-ever match in San Diego – Sunday against Japan at USD's Torero Stadium. Practices are tentatively scheduled for tomorrow at 3 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m., both at the ARCO Training Center in Chula Vista and open to the public; Saturday's session at Torero Stadium is closed. Tickets in the $40 and $45 categories are sold out, but tickets ranging from $20 to $35 remain. They are available at all Ticketmaster outlets or by calling (619) 220-8497. With the entire team in town, U.S. Soccer will announce its 2002 female Player of the Year at a news conference Friday afternoon.

Comings and goings

A flurry of interesting moves involving Major League Soccer: Forward Joe-Max Moore is out at England's Everton and rumored to be on his way back to MLS, perhaps to the Kansas City Wizards. Replacing Moore at Everton is Columbus Crew forward Brian McBride, who signed a three-month loan agreement that allows him to return for the 2003 MLS season. On the other way across the Atlantic is 33-year-old midfielder Earnie Stewart, who arranged a free transfer from Dutch club NAC Breda, where he has played for the last six years. Stewart says he prefers to play for the defending champion L.A. Galaxy (who wouldn't?), but the MetroStars and D.C. United have first dibs at major allocations. The Chicago Fire is cleaning house because of salary cap restrictions (no wonder coach Bob Bradley left for the MetroStars), sending All-Star midfielder Peter Nowak to New England and forward Josh Wolff to Kansas City. And likely leaving MLS after being in the league since its inception is 41-year-old Carlos Valderrama, who was cut free by the Colorado Rapids and has indicated he will play one final season in his native Colombia.

Only in soccer

Moshe Sinai is out as Israel's under-21 men's national coach. His crime? He apparently failed an anatomy exam while "passing" the required course to obtain a national coaching license. "From now on," Israeli federation head Gavri Levi said, "we will scrutinize all the diplomas of all the coaches who work within Israeli soccer. A thing like this will not happen again." Sinai says he will re-take the anatomy portion of coaching course. "I have been involved in soccer for over 20 years. I was national team captain and I coached in the top division," Sinai said, tongue firmly in cheek. "After I study anatomy, I will surely become a better coach."

Best bets

Sunday: Mexican league: Puebla at Chivas, 10 a.m. (Univision)

Sunday: Friendly: U.S. women vs. Japan, USD, 1 p.m. (ESPN)

And now O'Brien has seen his share of the soccer map, having played with five teams in the four years since leaving USD as a two-time Player of the Year in the West Coast Conference.

O'Brien, 26, earned honors as the Most Valuable Player last season in the A-League, one step below MLS. Then, as soon as he could, he headed off to the MISL and the Milwaukee Wave for the current campaign.

"It's perfect," said O'Brien, who was in San Diego last week to oppose the Sockers. "You can go year-round, which I've done for almost two years. You keep fit, you keep sharp. I'm enjoying life."

A midfielder, O'Brien tied for the A-League lead with 11 assists and added 13 goals in leading the Seattle Sounders (23-4-1) to the second-best record in A-League history before their season ended in the second round of the playoffs.

Because his father's career wound up in Tacoma, O'Brien spent much of his teen years in the Seattle area. In considering college, he wrote USD about playing there.

As Toreros coach Seamus McFadden recalls, O'Brien wasn't a highly recruited player because he didn't have great "physical speed." But O'Brien would compensate with exceptional "technical speed" drawn from working on his game.

After an injury forced him to redshirt his first year at USD, O'Brien garnered WCC Freshman of the Year honors the next season. He was on his way to becoming one of the Toreros' all-time best players in the view of McFadden, who started the USD program in 1980.

"There's an old adage in Ireland," McFadden said. "You have to have the players that carry the water, and you have to have the players that can sprinkle the water where it needs to go. Leighton was that player who was really the quarterback of our team."

O'Brien appreciated the latitude that he had at USD to develop his style within the team framework.

"It was just a great experience," O'Brien said. "I played with a lot of good players. Seamus believed in me. He gave me a lot of freedom and confidence. I just flew with it."

O'Brien went from USD to San Jose of MLS, where the coach was current Sockers mentor Brian Quinn. However, after Quinn was later fired, O'Brien's chances diminished, leading to his departure.

"The next guy comes in and likes his own players," said Leighton. "That's just the way that it goes sometimes."

O'Brien subsequently ended up with the San Diego Flash of the A-League for the 2000 season. Then it was on to the Sounders the next year.

In addition, O'Brien began in pro indoor soccer that year with Sacramento of the old World Indoor Soccer League. The Knights folded after his one season there, so he elected to accept an offer from perennial power Milwaukee this season.

The Waves are off to a 13-5 start, leading the MISL West, with the help of 16 points from O'Brien in 15 games.

In coming years, the question is whether O'Brien will again get a call from MLS, especially given his strong showing in the A-League.

"I'm just plugging away," O'Brien said. "Obviously, that's the top level in the U.S. You have to be shooting for it. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, I'm very happy playing indoor and outdoor."

This year-round schedule exceeds what was done by his father, who shifted to the indoor game when the NASL began to collapse. Otherwise, he feels a kinship with his father's career.

"I love playing the game," O'Brien said. "We only have a few years to play this game. It's what I want to do. I grew up that way. My old man was a player. My whole life has been traveling from team to team."